Friday, July 17, 2015

Want to know how to transform those Styrofoam coffee cups you have and use into uniquely shaped vases? I saw a tutorial on Instructables from a few years ago and was curious to see if it really worked.

Materials Used:Styrofoam cupsCrock Pot or Large Pot w/LidRubber bandsWeightsHere's what I did: 1. Add water 3/4 full to crock pot set on high or to stove pot w/lid and let water heat up hot or boiling, first.2. Put a rubber band around a Styrofoam cup. It's easier to start at the bottom of the cup where it's smaller and move the band up. I distorted the first cup trying to put the rubber band on from the top. Also, the tighter you make the rubber bands the greater a unique design develops.

3. Add a small weight (I used a small glass votive) to keep the cup partially down and put in hot water. *Over at Instructables, the directions said to put cup in a small bowl first, but I found this unnecessary in using both the crockpot and large pot with lid. *Tip: I used pot holder gloves and tongs to remove the cups - be careful, the water is extremely HOT!

4. Depending on the type of crockpot you're using (I tried two different ones), with both heating quite differently. One, I left the cup in for over an hour with the following pictured results:

It took a long time for the cup to transform and then it was bending slightly. Don't know if this was from the pressure of the rubber bands.

Next, I cut off the top border and tighten two rubber bands by doubling them twice and put in another crockpot.

With the second crockpot, it only took a few minutes to achieve the results as seen in the picture below. Still, bending slightly, and I didn't do a good job in cutting the foam.

I tighten the bands again and use just one near the top. I put this cup in a large pot, added a weight and put a lid on the pot. The cup took just a few minutes to change. I like this shape much better.

I tighten the bands again, weighted the cup and put this one in the second crockpot that heated hotter on HI than the first. I like this shape the best!

Here's the group of banded cups I submersed.

The experiment of transforming foam cups into vases really does work. Although a bit wonky, and unique. Isn't that what some of us look for in décor? The possibilities are open for adding embellishments like covering the vases with a foam coating to change the texture appearance and adding other mixed media are unlimited. Perhaps I'll try something like that next.

Such unique shapes! They don't look like foam cups any more but lovely pieces of art. Thanks for this great idea. I do have a question...when you put the cup in the pot of hot water, do you take the pot off of the heat?

Wow, great way to upcycle those foam cups... they look... not like a foam cup. That's my favorite type of upcycle project, when you can make something pretty that looks NOTHING LIKE what you started from!